


The Naga And The Pianist

by Pieceofship



Series: Monster Factory [5]
Category: Danganronpa, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: F/F, Monster!AU, Naga, Naga!Miu, nagas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-02
Updated: 2019-11-02
Packaged: 2021-01-20 16:43:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21284897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pieceofship/pseuds/Pieceofship
Summary: Once a week Kaede makes the long trip to visit a naga named Miu.
Relationships: kaemiu - Relationship
Series: Monster Factory [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1017525
Comments: 3
Kudos: 40





	The Naga And The Pianist

**Author's Note:**

> For a dr Halloween exchange on tumblr.

“Apple slices cut into bunnies, just as you requested.” Kirumi Tojo announced, handing off the Tupperware container to Kaede. 

Kaede smiled, she hated having to ask Kirumi for favours. But trying to slice these apples herself was proving less than successful given by the bandage on her finger. Give her a piano and some sheet music and she could play any song flawlessly and with the utmost confidence. Give her an apple, a knife and ask her to make bunny apples? Not worth losing a finger and her career over.

“Thank you, Kirumi,” she said, taking the container.

“It is no problem, if you need anything else please don’t hesitate to ask.” 

After thanking Kirumi a second time and watching her walk off and disappear into the busy streets, leaving her surrounded by a sea of strangers. Kaede took a moment to look at the container, now just noticing the vast amount of apple slices stuffed into the clear container. Just how many apples did Kirumi end up cutting? She did tend to go overboard whenever it came to food, the times she and Shuichi had tea with her proved so. But she could always tell Kirumi she didn’t need to go to such lengths to-

“Yoink!”

It took Kaede a moment to register that the container of bunny apples was no longer in her hands.

“Huh? What the...” 

Luckily the thief didn’t go too far and disappear into the crowded streets. In fact, he was standing in front of her with his usual cheeky grin. 

“Oh! What are these?” Kokichi asked, opening up the container. “Bunny apples?”

“Kokichi, those aren’t for you,” she said sternly through gritting teeth.

“Who are these for? You got a boyfriend or girlfriend now?” he gave an overdramatic sad pout. “Does that mean you’re gonna forget all about me?”

Having known Kokichi for a long time, Kaede wasn’t fooled one bit by his act. 

“That’s a lie, isn’t it?” 

Kokichi’s pout instantly turned into a big grin. “Yup, it’s definitely a lie!” he announced. “Man, you’re getting good. I might have to think of harder lies.” Kokichi fished an apple slice out of the container and took a big bite of one. “I don’t mind, I loooove a challenge,” he said while crunching the apple in his mouth.

“Can I please have them back?” Kaede requested, arms crossed with a frown plastered on her face.

“Maaaaaybe.” Kokichi teased and popped the remaining bunny apple in his mouth. “Tell me who there for first. You know I’m nosy,” he demanded and fished a second slice out and noisily chewed.

“There for a friend,” Kaede said, managing to quickly snatch the container away from him. 

“Really?” Kokichi looked unimpressed. “THAT’S the best lie you can come up with?” he frowned. “I expected better from you, Kaede. Well, whatever. I’m bored, I’m gonna find something fun to do.” 

Kaede let out a sigh of relief as she watched Kokichi disappear into the crowd. She returned her sights to the bunny apples, even with a Kokichi snacking on a few there were still more than enough. She took a look at her watch, making sure she wouldn’t be late for her bus. 

....

Three buses, a long walk and brief hike in the crisp autumn woods, Kaede stood before the cave. It was dark, without any light to guide the way. 

“Miu?” Kaede called, waiting for a response but nothing. She let out an annoyed sigh. “Miu, I bought you something,” she called again, giving the container a shake.

Sure enough, the sound of something stirring in the deepest depths of the cave could be heard. Normally this would scare anyone, but not Kaede. She had done this once a week so far for at least a year, she knew what to expect.

Eventually the sound grew closer and closer, and sure enough, there was Miu. At first glance, she looked like an everyday woman, at least until she was fully out of her cave. She had a pale complexion with a head of flowing blond hair, but once you got a closer look at the upper half of her body, her vibrate blue eyes had black slits for pupils and two pearly white sharp fangs protruded from her upper lip. And that was just the upper half of her body. From below the waist in place of where a pair of legs should have been, was an incredibly long and scaly dark green tail. 

She first met Miu last fall, during a costume party with a few of her friends. They decided to take a quick walk with all the sugary energy they had gotten from snacking on the cakes, cookies and other desserts Kirumi made. They stumbled across this cave and first caught sight of Miu. Her friends screamed and ran away, but Kaede did not. Being ever so curious she found herself staring in awe at such a creature and even more so when she learned she was a real naga as opposed to some elaborate decoration or costume.

Miu grinned and immediately swiped the container greedily away from Kaede. “No fucking way! You actually remembered with that pea-sized brain of yours!” 

Kaede pouted. “A thank you would be nice.”

Miu wasn’t listening, she was too wrapped up in opening up the container and inspecting an apple slice. “Don’t get how these are supposed to look like bunnies.”

“It’s the way the skin is cut, it’s supposed to look like bunny ears,” she explained.

“Hmmm, I still don’t see it.” Miu shrugged and popped the slice in her mouth. “Meh, real rabbit tastes better too. But I’ll give you points for bringing these to show me.”

“Thanks, I think?” she blinked, guessing that was Miu’s weird little way of thanking her. 

“Oh! Did you bring the other thing too?” Miu asked, stuffing another apple slice in her mouth.

“Of course I did.” Kaede reached into her bag and fished out a portable DVD player. 

Miu’s eyes sparkled as she slithered closer to her. “Oh thank fuck, I was worried you forgotten!”

“I bring it every time I visit,” Kaede said, setting the DVD player on a tree stump. 

It surprised Kaede that a naga of all things liked children’s tv shows, but she wasn’t going to complain. She had a bunch of DVDs from her childhood her parents took to keep her boredom at bay whenever she had to endure a long car drive or flight. Miu was lucky she forgot to get around to donating the portable DVD player and all the movies and cartoons she had along with it. 

“Well, hurry up and put it on!” Miu urged, slithering closer to the device eagerly.

“Impatient as always...” Kaede muttered, extending a digit to push the button and turn on the DVD player. 

“Hey, what happened to your finger?” Miu asked, gesturing to the tiny little bandage wrapped around her digit. 

“Oh, this? I accidentally cut my finger while trying to cut those apples,” she explained. “After that, I figured I should just get someone else to cut them for me.”

“Thought you avoided anything that could hurt your fingers?”

“Well yes, but you said you wanted to see bunny apples so I’ve made an attempt. Luckily it’s just a small cut and should heal up quickly.” 

“Wow, you seriously risked chopping off your finger and ruining your whole pianist career for a few cruddy apple slices? Damn, no wonder I’m the smart one!” she crackled.

Kaede huffed, tempted to point out Miu had eaten nearly half of the apples at this point. But she decided against it, for now, she just focused on starting up the film for Miu.

They were halfway through the movie when Kaede felt it. It was a few harmless raindrops, but within seconds it escalated into a heavy downpour.

“Ah, of all the times I don’t check the weather!” Kaede quickly swiped up the portable DVD player and stashed it in her bag, hoping there wasn’t any damage from its brief time out in the rain. 

She glanced at the cave, clutching her bag Kaede made a dash to the cave’s entrance... or at least that was the plan.

“Oof!” she grunted as she fell face-first into the wet and grassy ground. Kaede groaned and carefully lifted her face off the ground, just now realizing Miu had part of her tail wrapped around her ankle. “What was that for?!” she demanded and tried to shake her ankle free from Miu’s grasp.

“You can’t in my cave!”

“Why not?”

“Ge-genius inventor reasons... someone like you wouldn’t understand.” 

“Miu, it’s down pouring, just let me stay until the rain stops.” 

“I-I can’t!” she shook her head.

She lifted Kaede into the air, leaving her dangling by her ankles and making her very thankful she wore pants today. 

“Miu!” Kaede hissed.

“I-I gotta go!” she loosen her grip on Kaede, letting her fall to the ground before slithering off into her cave.

Kaede huffed and peeled her face off of the ground yet again. The already present frown on her face grew as she got up, not pleased she was soaking wet at this point. 

She stared at the cave’s entrance, no way was she going to sit around and make the journey back home in this weather. Regardless of what Miu said, she was determined to enter the cave. She stood up and made her way over, taking the first step inside. It was dark, so Kaede took out her phone and used it as a light to see her way through the cave’s darkness. 

The cave was dark and deep, much deeper than she originally guessed it was. It just made her all the more thankful she charged her phone prior to coming here, she was doubtful a low phone battery was going to be enough to get her in and out of this cave. 

After what felt like forever walking deeper into the depths of the cave, a wave of relief washed over Kaede as she caught sight of dim orange light at the end of the tunnel. She shut her phone off and made her way towards the light source. 

At the end of the cave’s long and dark tunnel was a fire. The light helped her get a better view of what exactly was at the end. 

The end of the tunnel was filled with lots of little knickknacks, some Kaede could easily identify as being stuff she bought Miu from past visits. As well as a workbench that was littered with little tools. And there were a few posters hung on the cave’s wall, another gift Kaede had gotten Miu despite never being in her cave. At least until now... 

But out of every item there, the thing that piqued her curiosity the most was something large and covered with a dull grey sheet. Kaede took a step closer, reaching out for it. But for the third time today, she found herself falling face first and for the second time, there was Miu’s green scaly tail wrapped around her ankles.

“What the fuck are you doing?!” Miu hissed at her.

Kaede gulped nervously, but rather than back down she made the choice to stand her ground.

“It’s down-pouring outside, it’s a long trip here and back. I’m not waiting out in the rain when you have more than enough space in this cave,” she stated firmly. 

“B-but...you can’t!” she stuttered, her tail loosening around Kaede’s ankle.

“Why not?” 

“You just can’t!”

Kaede huffed and stood up, taking a moment to brush the dirt off herself. 

“And what’s this?” 

She made her way over to whatever the sheet was keeping hidden. Without any hesitation, she grabbed hold of the cloth.

“No, wait!”

But Miu’s pleas fell on deaf ears, and before the naga had a chance to react or stop Kaede, the pianist yanked the sheet, revealing what it was hiding.

Underneath the sheet was a piano, a very dull pink one with pearly white keys. Kaede could only stare in awe, before taking a moment to blink and look at Miu.

“A piano?” 

“Duh, of course, it is!” Miu snarled. “You’re a goddamn pianist, you should know what a piano looks like!”

“That’s not what I mean.” Kaede huff, taking a moment to brush some stray locks of her blond hair out of her face. “What I want to know was this the reason you didn’t want me in your cave?”

Miu’s cheeks flush pink as she glanced away, anxiously twirling a lock of hair around her finger. “Yeah... a-all you talk about is the damn piano so I figured...” she cleared her throat and regain her composure. “If you were too damn lazy to bring a piano-“

“Miu, how many times do I have to tell you...” she took a deep breath and pressed her hands against each other before pointing them at Miu. “It’s impossible for me to haul a piano up here!”

“Not with that attitude.” Miu scoffed. “God, are all human so pathetic? If you just bought one I wouldn’t have had to make one myself.” 

Kaede rolled her eyes. “You still didn’t answer my question.”

“Uh... I... well you go on and on about pianos and shit, and well...” Miu shifted in her spot. “And I wanted to hear it, you’re either actually really good or stupidly cocky!” 

“If you wanted to hear me play, you could have just asked. I have recordings of my performances.”

“It’s not the same, how do I know it’s not edited to shit or something?” Miu crosses her arms. “Or what if the piano is self-playing?”

Kaede didn’t buy that for a second, having known Miu for so long she knew better than to believe that. It was easy to piece together what her real motive was. Miu simply desired to hear her play in person but was too nervous to ask. It was tempting to call her out, but Kaede felt she would get a better outcome if she played along. Plus Kaede could never say no to playing a song or two.

“Fine, I’ll play and prove it to you,” she spoke, making her way over to the piano. “Do you have a stool?”

“Gee, are all humans lazy too?” Miu huffed. “Here,” she slithered over. “just sit your lazy ass on me.” she gestured to the lower half of her body.

Kaede rolled her eyes but decided to just do as Miu suggested and gently sat on part of her scaly tail and began to play. Considering it was fall and they were still well into October, she settled on playing a few Halloween songs on the piano, ranging from themes to classic horror movies to more upbeat and cheerful Halloween melodies. 

She lost track of time, but by the time she played the last song she knew by heart, her fingers were begging for a break. Kaede lifted her gaze from the keys and glanced at Miu, who remained staring in an amazed trance before she eventually snapped out of it.

“That was....” Miu blinked before clearing her throat. “Alright, I guess. I mean, I did make that piano so naturally, it would make you sound amazing!” she boasted.

Kaede let out a loud sigh, of course. She shouldn’t have expected anything less coming from Miu, she knew the truth about how Miu really felt and exactly what to say.

“Well if you don’t like it, I guess I don’t have to play it again.” 

“I-I’ve never said that!” she stuttered.

She couldn’t help but laugh, that was Miu for you. “I’ll bring some sheet music next time, would you like that?” 

“And those bunny apples?”

Kaede fought the urge to roll her eyes. “Of course.”


End file.
